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University of Colorado Boulder

Technical Managerial Written Skills

University of Colorado Boulder via Coursera

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Overview

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Writing effective documents to influence teams and decision-makers is one of the essential elements of successful management. Additionally, in all of its forms, writing remains one of the primary vehicles by which a leader exercises leadership. Just like the other forms of communication, it must be coherent, complete, make a clear argument, and include appropriate decorum. This course focuses on these attributes as applied in all forms of modern written communication. This course can be taken for academic credit as part of CU Boulder’s Master of Engineering in Engineering Management (ME-EM) degree offered on the Coursera platform. The ME-EM is designed to help engineers, scientists, and technical professionals move into leadership and management roles in the engineering and technical sectors. With performance-based admissions and no application process, the ME-EM is ideal for individuals with a broad range of undergraduate education and/or professional experience. Learn more about the ME-EM program at https://www.coursera.org/degrees/me-engineering-management-boulder.

Syllabus

  • Foundations of Reader-Centric Technical Writing
    • Humility is the best trait of an effective writer. In Week 1, you’ll uncover why even seasoned managers need a rigorous, reader-centric process. You’ll diagnose a real communication problem from your own workplace, practice clarity and brevity techniques grounded in neuroscience, and leave with a polished two-sentence problem statement—the first building block of your Managerial Communication Packet.
  • Crafting a Persuasive Letter to an External Stakeholder
    • In this module, you will learn when a formal business letter is the best choice, identify the main concerns of customers, suppliers, or regulators, and write a letter that begins with a clear benefit, supports it with facts, and ends with a direct request. You will replace jargon with plain language, check every sentence for accuracy and courtesy, and revise a short letter with feedback from an AI client. The final version will become Section 2 of your Managerial Communication Packet and will be ready to send to the person who can help solve the problem you defined in Module 1.
  • The Research Proposal
    • A research proposal is one of the most common (and most competitive) forms of writing in business and industry. It is far more than a list of capabilities; dozens of vendors can claim they “can do the work.” Your proposal must convince the customer that you are the best partner. To do so, you must write to the customer’s primary concerns, create a clear mental picture of your solution, keep the document brief and concise, and present it in flawless, professional format. In this module, you will practice each of those skills as you turn a real engineering-management problem into a concise pilot-study proposal. By the end of the week, you will have a polished document that clearly answers stakeholder questions and becomes Section 3 of your Managerial Communication Packet.
  • The Executive Summary
    • An executive summary is the decisive one–page brief that moves busy leaders from “Tell me more” to “Approved.” It is far more than a recap of your longer report; senior managers rarely have time to search for the bottom line. Your summary must surface the business problem, spotlight the recommended action, prove value with a single metric, and finish with a clear approval request — all in language a vice president can absorb in under a minute. In this module, you will master those moves: outlining the bottom-line story, selecting only the evidence that matters, shaping every sentence around the reader’s priorities, and trimming words until the page holds nothing but power. By week’s end, you will hold a 150-to-200-word executive summary that earns quick endorsement and becomes Section 4 of your Managerial Communication Packet.

Taught by

Daniel Moorer

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5.0 rating, based on 1 Class Central review

4.6 rating at Coursera based on 23 ratings

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  • Mukhtiar Ahmed
    1
    the manager is the most learning person who communicates with people during his daily work. he is a responsible person who must have some managerial skills like conceptual and especially communication skills is one of the all is. technical writing is the most important skill you use in your official communication.
    I hope this course will facilitate beginners improve their official writing skills through this source of learning.
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